That swelled quickly

Market Report: 19th Sept. 2018 — Subscribe to our newsletter.

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CRYPTO NOTE

The daily view from our desk

Elon Musk, everyone’s favourite ETH giveaway account, is making commercial space travel a reality. When moon? Around 2023. Meanwhile, Pepe the Frog will be appearing in court next year. This bear market is having strange effects on the crypto community, could coca-cola infused cannabis be the cause? It might go someway to explain why this parking lesson resulted in a watery conclusion.

THAT SWELLED QUICKLY

XRP is making waves again. But how long can the winds last?

It might have seemed like CNBC heard yesterday’s defiant call — as, by 12:20 pm, XRP pumped 23% within a couple of hours — but the xRapid news had already been published exactly 24 hours before. Many alts, like ADA and EOS, had similar moves within the next few minutes, while ether bulls took some time to think and it only started moving one hour after — appreciating 11% in 5 minutes — but it immediately retraced. What happened then?
Considering that BTC also jumped, but half an hour later and only 1.5%, and in the absence of updates to Monday’s news, the thesis that XRP’s rise was derived from a technical breakout — as it broke out of a months-long “massive falling wedge”, as Rand points out — looks the most plausible. Remember that Swell — Ripple’s hyped annual conference that will have Bill Clinton as a keynote speaker — it kicks off on October 1st.

ACCUMULATION OR CAPITULATION

Will these violent delights have violent ends or will capitulation never come?

It’s evident that XRP’s strong move rippled across the block, leading to renewed bullish sentiment that was transposed to other projects. Some traders are clearly trying to instil such animal spirits in the cryptosphere so, as usual, think for yourself. Ether’s 5-minute pump, signals the market is trying hard to create FOMO. But the original cryptoasset still needs to show the way ahead, and alts need to pump more than 4% on average.
For now, many are seeing bullish signs and imagining comforting theories to justify them. However, we appreciate the importance in being the bearer of bearish news, so we bring you Paul Everton’s reminder that — based on Google Search data — retail interest in cryptoassets “is extremely low” and further pain is still a potential scenario. In the meantime, as Josh notes, the next move should be either accumulation or capitulation.

WHAT TO LOOK OUT FOR

Filter the noise and stay ahead of the pack

▪ The NY State Attorney General published their Virtual Markets Integrity Initiative report. Their findings are not surprising, but are certainly brutal. Check it here.

▪ Crypto Bobby highlighted a particular section of the VMII report and Luke Martin responded with an overview of how exchanges aim to provide liquidity to their customers.

▪ A UK Treasury committee report argues the “unregulated (cryptoasset) industry leaves investors facing numerous risks”. Here’s a great summary of the recommendations.

WHAT TO READ TODAY

An insight a day could give you more profits to play

▪ The Hechinger Report covers “the latest course catalogue trend — blockchain 101”, as well as the myriad of student clubs popping up on the topic. Read the full story here.

▪ Bloomberg’s Tim Culpan chips in on Bitmain’s IPO, arguing “Bitcoin’s biggest name forgot a rule for selling shovels” and providing a concise overview of their situation.

▪ Cryptopoiesis analyses “Bitcoin’s Inflation Adjusted NVT Ratio”, in case you need a refresh of the metric, and argues it should incorporate Lightning Network’s transactions.

FOUNDATIONAL TRIVIA

Because the building blocks of crypto needn’t be irrelevant

In crypto markets, FOMO is all about market buying — or selling — right after the first candle that goes in favour — or against — one’s fearful bias. Remember cryptoassets are less volatile these days so plan your trades and move slowly. And watch this video.